I think this would be a good suggestion for a post on
Glorantha.com. It would give narrators perhaps a menu of approaches
to this common conundrum. Some players love scouring their sheet
for augments, some players hate waiting while someone is calculating
their total. Also, on one level it can make it *more* difficult to
plan contests when you don't know quite where to pitch the
resistance. Not everyone likes to make these up on the fly.
Regards
Rob
>
> So far I've only played HQ over the net, where augments are easily
> handled--it is pretty easy to write the list of augments and how
they
> apply, and is quick to read (much faster that talking them out).
>
> But I can see how, face to face, the same thing could be very
> bothersome. A couple of thoughts occured to me.
>
> First, at the social contract level, try to get people to agree to
> keep it under control, to focus on the augments that make sense in
> the story. After all, in the end the narrator will probably be
> setting resistances based on hero ability, so everyone finding
five
> more augments doesn't really matter that much. This is a very
> nebulous point, but a few focussed augments are cooler, and more
> interesting, that piling everything on every time. So if you are
in
> a bar brawl, augmenting only with "agile," "swashbuckling"
and "hold
> drink" gives a lot of imagery of how you are fighting. The reward
is
> not a higher score, but rather better spot light time.
>
> Second, to add some risk to using augments, say that the contest
> outcomes apply to every ability used as an augment. This should
help
> make the first point resonate more--if adding in Proud, Resolute,
> Enduring, Loyal to Shipmates and Piercing Yell gives you +10, but
> automatically causes the opposition to go up by +10 (they augment
> similarly), AND gives you the risk of having damage done to all of
> those abilities.....is it worth it?
>
> Third, in an extended contest, allow augments only proportional to
> the chances being taken in the bid. Sure, there are some contests
> where the hero would go "All In," and should be augmenting with
> everything on their character sheet--but that should correspond
with
> a major bid. If you are all in, SHOW that you are all in with a
big
> bid. Yes this might take some time to find the augments and
narrate
> how they apply, but surely there are some occasions where this is
> appropriate? And what occasion, if not one where you've deemed an
> extended contest is appropriate and the hero is going to make a
high
> stakes bid.
>
> Fourth, like with magic, you could have players indicate which
> augments they have on stand-by. It is pretty hard to be focussed
on
> your pride, your bravery, your loyalty to the crew and your hatred
of
> teh Vadelli all at once. In the case where the heroes get to
prepare,
> then it is more appropriate to pull in more augments--and that
feels
> right for when you are prepared. But when you are trying to avoid
a
> Vadelli ship that has you almost pinned against a fireberg as a
storm
> is blowing, choose one virtues that the hero is focussed on at the
> time, one physical trait that is relevant, one additional skill
that
> is helping, and maybe one more ability from whatever cluster you
have
> the most potential augments from.
>
> One final thing from a player perspective. When your hero has a
core
> competence, that one thing that he or she is really good at, with
> MANY augments possible, you do want to be able to use a fair
number
> of those, as that is part of what makes that character special.
So
> the ship's lookout who has a high "Awareness" score, but also has
a
> Watchful and Focussed personality, has Keen Eyesight and Sharp
> Senses, has Keep Watch and Scan Horizon skills and See Through
Mist,
> Farsight, and Eagle Eyes feats, well, he _should_ get to use more
> augmnts for seeing something than most heroes would. Quite how to
> balance that out with all of the above I'm not sure, but it does
feel
> like robbery when you don't get to be good at what you are good at
> (or conversely, when someone else uses less relevant augments to
come
> up to the same total ability).
>
> -Bryan